Apple workers in France stage strike on iPhone 15 launch day. In a protest timed to the release of the iPhone 15, employees at Apple (AAPL.O) stores in France began a statewide strike over compensation and working conditions on Friday.
After being forced to halt selling its iPhone 12 model earlier this month due to above-threshold radiation, it is the tech giant’s latest issue in France. Apple contests the French watchdog’s conclusions.
A group of approximately 30 employees were picketing in front of the company’s Opera store in downtown Paris, one of three in the French city, just a few meters away from a queue of about 40 people waiting to enter the store in the pouring rain.
According to Anais Durel, a 36-year-old who has worked at Apple for ten years, “We are still the ones who make Apple’s wealth, so I think that we deserve a little more honorable treatment than what we are given today.”
A CGT union representative estimated that “a few hundred” of Apple France’s 2,300-person retail workforce participated in the walkout. He continued by saying that all Apple France stores were open on Friday but with fewer employees.
Apple opted not to respond. On Saturday, several Apple unions, including CGT, Unsa, CFDT, and Cidre-CFTC, intend to strike in support of demands for a 7% pay raise to account for inflation and the lifting of a lengthy hiring freeze. According to union representatives, management only offered a 4.5% raise.
“Inflation remains quite unpleasant. Many workers are having problems, according to Tarek, a CGT union official who wished to remain anonymous.
“The goal is really to bring awareness to this situation, not at all to block sales of the iPhone,” he continued.
Around 250 people were waiting to enter an Apple store in Barcelona on Friday morning, and the staff there was planning to protest alongside their French counterparts.
According to Pablo Paredes, the CNT Apple union’s president, about 20 employees will erect an informational picket outside the store on Paseo de Gracia in the heart of Barcelona at noon.
According to Paredes, the workers want to draw attention to unfavorable working circumstances, such as contracts that don’t pay them extra for working on the weekends or at night.
Barcelona has two stores, although only one is occupied by the minority union CNT. According to Paredes, the union has not yet been successful in meeting with the business to present its objections.
“Since August, we have communicated with our French coworkers on strike. Contrary to them, according to Paredes, not all of the unions in Spain have agreed to strike.